Isaiah’s Glimpse

Isaiah’s Glimpse

Matthew 1:22-23, NLT

All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: 23“Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”

Setting the Scene

Matthew wanted to make sure his Jewish readers (who were his primary original audience) saw the connection between the events in Jesus’ life and the prophecies about the Messiah in their Scriptures, our Old Testament. The passage Matthew referred to came from the prophet Isaiah. While it likely had a short-term fulfillment, early Jewish scholars saw in passages like Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6 whispers from God about the promised Messiah. Until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the middle of the twentieth century, the accuracy of messianic prophecies were often chalked up to Christians editing the ancient texts and “writing in” references to Jesus. But a complete scroll of Isaiah dating to before the time of Christ was part of the Qumran treasure trove, giving us documented evidence that prophecies about Jesus were on record long before he was born.

In Isaiah’s immediate context, a young woman’s life could have provided the timeline for the prophet’s words to King Ahaz that his chief enemies would be defeated and an even more daunting enemy would rise. The woman would marry, bear a child, and wean the child while the events unfolded. She would name him Immanuel. The ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy would occur when a virgin would actually conceive and bear a son who would be “God with us”—Immanuel.

Interestingly, the final verse in Matthew’s Gospel records Jesus saying, “I am with you always”—he was not only born Immanuel, but he remains forever God with us among all peoples, to the end of the age.

Getting Personal

How do you live out in a daily way the fact that God is with you?

What does fulfilled prophecy tell you about the God you worship?

Because God foreknows, he can foretell. Because God is ultimately in control, what he foretells will come to be. These prophecies invite and test our trust in God. The accuracy of fulfillment that can be traced in Jesus’ life leaves us without excuse when it comes to trusting God’s plan for the world and his plan for our own lives. In what ways are you trusting God today?

Talking to God

Ask God to help you trust his plan for your life. Thank him for being “Immanuel,” God with you personally.